Rx 300 Timing Belt

[temp725]

I recently had the timing belt waterpump and spark plugs replaced in my Lexus RX 300 about 2 months 15,000 miles later the car dies and the verdict is top end engine damage the car needs a new motor. The original mechanic who did the timing belt repairs said better off just to scrap the car and installing a new engine was a bigger job than he could handle. So I did my research found an remanufactured engine and a mechanic that specialized in Foreign autos to install. When he was pulling the engine down he noticed that the timing was off he took pictures and wrote up a report and stated that the timing belt was not installed to manufactures specifications and this is what caused the engine failure. This has been a very costly repair over $5,000. When I went back to the original mechanic he said that was impossible that the car would not have run if the timimg belt was off. Current mechanic is saying the electoncis will compensate for the timing being off but eventually will go which is what has happened. Not quite sure who to belive do not what to go after someone if the did not do any thing wrong. Can someone out there please shed some light on this.

[Filehorse]

Two months and 15,000 miles..!! You must be doing coast-to-coast package delivery if those numbers are correct. I suspect your 2nd mechanic is correct. If the timing belt was only one notch off the engine will still run although it may not perform as smoothly as it should. Depending on how the belt was incorrectly installed, either an intake cam or an exhaust cam (or some combination) could be off. What did your 2nd mechanic say about how the engine failed? That might point to what was off. If it was causing one bank of cylinders to fire early, I can see where detonation might eventually burn the pistons and cause an engine failure. All the foregoing notwithstanding, if your 2nd mechanic found the timing belt out of time, it's a safe bet it was installed that way! That is a toothed belt and just like a chain, once installed it's not going to "slip" out of time. I'm thinking the mechanic who installed the timing belt made a mistake either through oversight or failure to follow the correct procedure. Unfortunately, if he doesn't man up and take responsibility, I'm not sure how much luck you would have in proving (keyword) his liability for a faulty job. I once had the timing belt replaced on a 2nd generation Mazda 626 by the dealer and he got it one notch out of time. It ran rough but I diagnosed and fixed that one myself but that was a single overhead cam L4 engine. With a V-6 and twin overhead cams, it's not a single-step procedure to get everything in time. Lotsa luck on this one.

[code58]

I think Filehorse is pretty much right on in his analysis. There isn't much of any possibility the belt could slip.

[temp725]

Current mechanic took pictures and wrote a statement as to what happened and caused the engine to fail. He is willing to tesify in court so I am going to send a demand letter to prvious mechanic for damages. I will give him two weeks to respond if not I will take it to court wish me luck. This has been a 2 month process getting this fixed along with a 6,500 repair bill. Not cheap!!